Record attendance: This year’s conference in Monterey, California,
USA, attracted 1,745 attendees, an all-time record for this 29-year-old
event. Contributing to this record were foodservice distributors who
brought large groups of buyer customers to this year’s event.

First meeting of PMA’s Foodservice 2020 Initiative Steering
Committee: Tasked with guiding the Foodservice 2020 Initiative’s efforts
to increase fresh produce use in foodservice, this group is the first
PMA volunteer leadership committee to include representatives of other
organizations. Chaired by Sysco’s Vice President of Produce Rich
Dachman, the steering committee includes volunteer leaders of the
National Restaurant Association and International Foodservice
Distributors Association, which are partnering with PMA on the
initiative. The committee’s members who hail from across the produce
foodservice supply chain. The 15-member group met July 29 to begin
planning the initiative’s next steps.

Best expo in produce: This year’s sold-out exposition, dubbed “the
best five hours in foodservice”, featured 153 exhibitors showcasing the
produce industry’s best companies, products and services. The expo’s
“Best of Show” awards went to first-place winner EarthFresh, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, while Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Wellington, Florida, USA,
took second-place honors.

Unprecedented volunteer leadership: This year’s event was supported
by PMA’s new Foodservice Conference Committee, chaired by Pro*Act
Director of Marketing Mary Wright-Rana and Sysco Senior Director Mike
Hansen. These two competitors partnered to lead the volunteer group’s
work, whose efforts included attracting record attendance.

In other leadership news, Sysco’s Dachman, who was recently nominated
chairman-elect of PMA’s Board of Directors, received The Packer
newspaper’s Foodservice Achievement Award at the convention.

Women’s networking, and philanthropy: PMA Foundation for Industry
Talent’s (FIT) Fresh Perspective: Women’s Networking Event held was
attended by more than 100 women leaders in produce and their supporters.
Attendees donated 550 pairs of shoes to Soles4Souls, a charity that
distributes shoes free of charge to people in need all over the world.

Future talent attraction: FIT’s Nucci Scholarship for Culinary
Innovation sponsored attendance of 10 culinary students, to expose them
to career opportunities in produce. The students hailed from Johnson
& Wales University, and Culinary Institute of America.

Industry support: Golfers raised more than $36,000 to support FIT’s
work to attract, develop, and retain produce industry talent. The
first-place foursome was led by Santa Sweets’ Micheal Lacey, and
included L&M Companies’ Juan Torres and Peter Kimcczak, and Top Soil
USA’s Ernie Baltierra.

One hundred fifty runners and walkers participated in FIT’s first “Live
FIT” 5K at the foodservice conference; proceeds will support FIT’s
activities.

“We are all so pleased with the success of this year’s event, from the
top-notch educational programming to the networking events to the expo,”
said Pro*Act’s Wright-Rana. “It’s clear from the record attendance that
this event is meeting the needs of the produce and foodservice
industries alike, to help grow our businesses together.”

“Seeing the record participation and hearing from many of the attendees
my takeaway is that the foodservice industry realizes that reaching our
goal of doubling fresh produce consumption by 2020 will require the
collective efforts of the entire supply chain,” said Sysco’s Hansen.
“The roundtable sessions provided provocative and insightful viewpoints
of strategies to make it happen. The bar continues to be raised!”

PMA’s 2011 Foodservice Conference & Exposition will be held July 29-31, in Monterey.

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